I have a Macbook!

[MMMMatilde]

For all you Apple haters, nerr.

I love it.. I'm trying to get the hang of a command button rather than control but otherwise I love it!!

It's so pretty.

 

[The Man]

Dual boot to windows?

 

[The Man]

People do actually do that as they may have some apps which are windows specific....One thing about it the setup for it is supposed to be a breeze...you can have the best of both worlds
Windows people cant as it is illegal to run an apple OS on non apple equipment.

 

[MMMMatilde]

I do want to get the microsoft suite on my laptop for uni. I have spent so long getting use to excel and word for uni and work that I don't think I have the patience to learn all the apple equivalent things. I also miss good ol' paint.

 

[The Man]

You may be able to transfer your license..at one time you couldnt..but I think you can now...I dont know if that applies in every country though...I would call Microsoft and see what they say...if they say no...tell em thats why people are switching to Macs
If they make the same version you have for a mac..I am going to say it will probably be a yes

 

[MMMMatilde]

That is really useful, thanks! Will give them a call.

I have had surgery on my foot so I am off work for a week with nothing to do other than all my university work this should be a good distraction.

 

[The Man]

You will probably need another install disc unless your current one has apple and windows both ion it.
Might be able to download it I am not sure. I use open office org which is free and will do most of what ms office will do..so I dont as much as I should about ms office..Also different countries have different laws as well

 

[!]

I can't stand office for mac, to be honest if you can try one of the open source or free alternatives such as Google Docs or Open Office. As others mention you can setup the mac to run both windows and osx, but to be honest the rebooting aspect is quite disrupting and annoying to the user experience. You may want to explore using something like Parellels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion, both have been around for a long time and each has their own advantages but a much better solution if you want Windows on your Mac no matter how dirty that sounds. But given that Google Docs is free, that is hard to beat!

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion

 

[MMMMatilde]

I don't want windows on my mac, just word, excel, publisher etc. I am happy with the apple system otherwise. I can understand computers easily enough but there has been at least 16 years of learning word that I don't want to throw away haha

 

[The Man]

I don't want windows on my mac, just word, excel, publisher etc. I am happy with the apple system otherwise. I can understand computers easily enough but there has been at least 16 years of learning word that I don't want to throw away haha

Alot of people do it....you dont have to use it but it will be there if you need it...what he is talking about is essentially a virtual machine which you run under you apple os but can go into windows without having to close down the apple OS.
I have my pc set up that way..I run windows 7 but can flop over to xp while still booted into windows 7
I use Open Office for what you use Office for..Its free and worth a try..it appears as if Microsoft office for mac is somewhat different than the windows version..I will take his word for it..Open office for mac might suck as well...but the windows version is not bad at all.

http://www.openoffice.org/product/index.html
I never got into the google documents much so cant comment there...but its also free and worth a try...some of the best software is free...just good ole boys trying to make life easier for the rest of us.

 

[MMMMatilde]

I used open office on James' old computer and it was fine but I still preferred microsoft and I remember back when I first joined OTz that we had the xp option as well. I'm a bit simple I guess haha. I will investigate some other options though. First world problems

 

[The Man]

It will take a little getting used to whatever you pick

 

[!]

Yeah office for mac is nothing like office for windows, yes it does similar functions but so do the other options you have. Open Office is actually more similar between platforms than Microsoft Office.

My recommendations would be:

1. Google Drive/Google Docs - Free
   
2. Open Office - Free
3. Install Windows (boot camp, parallels, fusion) and install Office for Windows - price of office software and possible virtual software
4. Install office for Mac - price of software

The beauty about the Google stuff is you can export them into Microsoft format if needed, or send people links to collaborate in real time and it is all hosted so if your computer crashes you don't lose your docs, but you can also save to other backup locations (USB or upload to encrypted storage like Wuala.com)

 

[The Man]

Can you use google drive/docs locally?{offline}...do I have to be online to make use of files saved locally.

 

[The Man]

Where you at?...I swear people get a Mac and think they are to good to mingle with the Windows users.

 

[Aries]

I miss my Macbook. I have to either get a new one or get it fixed...the screen is messed up. Both expensive options, so I'm using a HP Pavilion Chromebook for now.

 

[MMMMatilde]

Hahaha I've been inundated with uni work. Poor laptop doesn't get to have fun anymore.